For more than five months Julie Cervera struggled to pay a $600 electrical bill, feed her family and keep the cable company from shutting off her service.

Meanwhile, her $US23 million ($NZ28 million) lottery ticket languished forgotten in the glove box of her car.

On Thursday, someone texted her a photo of her daughter, Charliena Marquez, buying the winning ticket for her at a Palmdale, California liquor store. The photo had been released by lottery officials searching for the mysterious winner of the May drawing.

"I put my 99 cent glasses on, and I had to put two pairs on to see it," said 69-year-old Cervera.

She recognised her daughter in the grainy photo, but she still couldn't read the caption.

"I thought she robbed a bank because I couldn't see the words on top," Cervera said with a laugh.

"So I put on a third pair (of glasses) and it said she won. I was like, 'No way!"'

Back in May, mother and daughter were driving home together when Marquez felt queasy and asked her mother to pull over so she could buy a bottle of water.

"She always gets carsick," Cervera said.

Cervera asked her daughter to buy her a lottery ticket and dug in her purse trying to find a dollar. Marquez protested but eventually used her own money to purchase a Super Lotto Plus ticket for her mother.

"I put it in my new car. It's an old car but it's new to me. It's been there for five months," Cervera said at a news conference with her three adult children and half a dozen grandchildren lined up behind her.